


Let the Waves Take Me Down

by Temporaryism



Category: Avengers: Infinity War - Fandom, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Spoilers, Gen, LITERALLY, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Reunions, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, could be starker if you squint, mrrrreeee idk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-07
Updated: 2018-05-07
Packaged: 2019-05-03 13:47:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14570319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Temporaryism/pseuds/Temporaryism
Summary: This isn't the first time Tony has seen Peter looking alive and whole and very much real. This is just the first time he's not the only one seeing it."H-hey," collective-hallucination Peter says. He clears his throat. "Mr. Stark," he adds, though it comes out hoarse and quiet. Tony can't remember whether the real Peter Parker stared this much. Before. The kid had certainly always been wide eyed, but the amount of unblinking eye contact going on right now was probably unheard of before this moment. Just another tick under the column ofdefinitely the product of a psychotic break.





	Let the Waves Take Me Down

There was a time when Tony thought he would never see Peter again. He wasn't exactly sure how long that period of time had lasted—what was the use of counting days when he had no basis with which to compare them to days on earth or even determine his distance from said home planet—but he knows that time has left a permanent mark on him, invisible as it might be.

Tony knows this because this isn't the first time he's seen Peter looking alive and whole and very much real. This is just the first time he's not the only one seeing it.

"H-hey," collective-hallucination Peter says. He clears his throat. "Mr. Stark," he adds, though it comes out hoarse and quiet. Tony can't remember whether the real Peter Parker stared this much. Before. The kid had certainly always been wide eyed, but the amount of unblinking eye contact going on right now was probably unheard of before this moment. Just another tick under the column of _definitely the product of a psychotic break_.

There are other voices, but they sound muted, like Tony's under water and everyone else is above the surface. Except for Peter. He's drowning right alongside Tony.

Phantom Parker takes a step forward, and Tony's knee-jerk reaction is a hasty step back, except he's frozen in place. It's all he can do to watch on in a sort of omniscient, out-of-body horror as this opaque ghost crowds into Tony's space and places a tentative hand on Tony's elbow. The contact unfreezes Tony with a jolt, and in a flash he's halfway up the boarding steps of the piece of junk he had somehow managed to navigate back to earth with.

Peter's forehead is wrinkled, and his eyes bleed the sort of sadness that's usually reserved for small, fluffy animals. The expression looks wrong on Peter's face; none of Tony's other conjured Peters had ever looked hurt before. The Peters he sees when he sleeps are always dying, but still they look nothing like this. They look repentant, just like Peter had when—on That Day. Right now, Peter's hand hangs suspended in the place it had been before Tony hyperjumped out of the way, which adds to the overall effect of hurt and rejection that Peter is emanating.

Somehow, Tony finds his voice. "Everyone out. Now."

Nevermind that Tony essentially crash landed his pod ship thing onto the open ledge of what used to be Stark Tower and that the crowd of people who'd managed to find him there really had nowhere else to go at this time. Nevermind that Tony himself wasn't exactly sure how to navigate your way to an exit through a building you used to own but had no rights to anymore without stopping to make profuse apologies and promises about the catastrophic damage you just caused. Nevermind that he didn't really want Peter to leave.

He figured that last bit out a little too late; Happy was already physically shuffling non-physical Peter off the immediate premises. It was clear to Tony that this apparition didn't want to leave either, but Tony Stark didn't do take-backs.

It only took a few seconds of the landing pad to empty of everyone but Tony and Pepper. With a grimace Pepper said, "I know you said everyone, but honestly, Tony, it's not a good idea for you to be alone right now. I mean who knows what you—what you went through."

Tony can only nod. He's far past accepting that Pepper knows far better what is good for him than he does. After a silence that drags on too long, Tony raises a shaky finger to point at the doorway everyone just disappeared through. He opens his mouth but can't quite get the words out. He clears his throat a few times, but this isn't a mechanical failure. The words are metaphorically stuck and not in his throat but in his chest. Pushing them out requires too much effort.

Pepper seems to understand anyway. "Everyone's back. Well," she amends as Tony drops his hand, "there's no way to know if _everyone_ came back, but as far as our circle is concerned, everyone who was gone is back now."

Everyone who was gone. Okay.

Tony clears his throat again and says, "so I'm not—"

"No," Pepper cuts him off, "you're not seeing things."

Tony nods. His vision is getting blurry, and he knows no more words will escape him right now. The only warning he can give Pepper is a vague toss of his hand in the direction Peter left in before Tony is jogging into not-his-tower. He has to wipe at his eyes to see where he's going, and he realizes as he smacks the down button on the elevator that he actually has no idea where Peter went. He'll start with the lobby though. He'll search the whole tower if he has to, and if Peter's not there, he'll search all of New York.

The elevator moves far too slowly. Each ding that signals a passing floor ricochets off of Tony's nerves. His hands clench the stainless steel hand rails at the back of the elevator car with a white-knuckled grip. The cool metal is grounding; it reminds Tony of the suit, the ship he spent months, possibly years, in, and oddly, of Peter. Or maybe not so odd. It took Tony hardly any time at all to put the kid in an "iron" suit—not that it saved him, in the end.

A well of frustration, old but familiar, rises up in Tony's chest, and he releases the handlebar and begins to pace the elevator in a fit of energy. He feels like punching something, but he's had a long enough life of surrounding himself in unrelenting and impenetrable materials to know better.

When the elevator finally reaches the first floor lobby, Tony ejects himself from it. His eyes scan the room until they zero in on his target. A boy with slightly curly brown hair who probably looks ordinary to most everyone else, but that's just because they don't know him the way Tony does. They don't know what this kid can do, and they don't get why out of all the deaths that Thanos caused, Peter's was the most tragic.

Peter senses he's being stalked down and turns just in time to see the speeding bullet that is Tony Stark headed straight for him.

"Mr. Stark," Peter says. His voice is edged with a hint of panic and a lot of worry, but Tony doesn't bother to give Peter any assurances. He was never good at that kind of lying anyway.

Tony reaches his prey and descends. He pulls Peter toward himself, only absently notes that he essentially ripped the kid from Happy's comforting arms, and latches his arms around Peter's circumference. He tucks Peter into his chest and holds on like he might never let go. A small, quiet part of Tony's brain takes a second to worry whether Peter even wants this, but before long, Peter is responding. Wiry arms circle Tony's waist. Peter melts into Tony's embrace.

"I'm so sorry," Peter chokes out.

Tony squeezes the compact frame in his arms and shakes his head tightly. "Don't—don't apologize, kid. I—you didn't do anything wrong. It's not your fault. It's not."

Peter's shoulders are shaking, and Tony thinks that's just because Peter's crying—fuck, Tony's eyes certainly aren't dry—but then he hears a low chuckle, and though he can't let go, he has to pull away enough to see Peter's face. There are tear tracks on his cheeks, but his lips are quirked at the corner. Tony shakes his head in disbelief.

"What's so funny?"

Peter shrugs and uses one hand to surreptitiously wipe at his cheeks. "'M not much of a kid anymore."

Tony remembers he really has no idea how much time has passed, and his heart flips dangerously in his chest. "How old are you now?"

"Ninete—"

"Nevermind, shut up," Tony says as he draws Peter in again. "Doesn't matter. You'll always be a kid."

Displeased, Peter pinches Tony, which hurts more than he'd thought it would. Tony tries to escape the punishment, but he and Peter are so intertwined it's impossible to avoid contact. "Cut that out," he tries, going for the commanding tone that used to make Peter stumble and trip over words and apologize. Somehow Tony missed out on Peter's transition from eager to please to sassy little shit, though, because all Tony gets in response is a smirk and eyes that shine with teasing and mirth. It's shocking enough to ground Tony in the present.

He drops his arms and releases Peter from his ironclad grip and says, "Alright. That's enough. Don't get all—," Tony waves a hand to gesture at Peter all-encompassingly, "emotional on me now."

Peter's smile doesn't dim a watt, and Tony has a feeling Peter isn't buying his shit, but Peter's still far too nice to call Tony out on it.

"So what now?" Peter asks.

Tony hums thoughtfully in response before finally shrugging. "Good question, kid."

**Author's Note:**

> [My Tumblr](http://myloveasrare.tumblr.com/) if you want to come rant to me about Infinity War.


End file.
